Many of us who attended school from the late 80s onwards remember Sasbadi Holdings Bhd as the purveyor of textbooks and revision workbooks.

Back then, successfully completing some of the exercises in a Sasbadi book meant a better chance of not only acing an exam but also staying ahead of the pack.

But, times have changed and it seems the industry stalwart is the one left to play catch up amid a new political environment and a disruptive tech scene.

For starters, Sasbadi dove deeper into the red with a net loss of RM7.9 mil in the fourth quarter ended Aug 31, 2018 (4QFY18) from RM4.22 mil a year ago on the back of lower revenue of RM12.77 mil versus RM12.98 mil.

On a full fiscal year basis, the company is still in the black with a lower net profit of RM2 mil compared with RM8.04 mil in FY17.

Analysts tracking Sasbadi’s performance will say the 4Q of any financial year is generally an off-peak season for academia and that students would have mostly acquired their books prior to that.